The chairman of the Siraha Land Dispute Resolution Commission has not been seen in public for five months. The reason is that a case is pending against him in the Siraha District Court on charges of fraud by forging and producing fake land documents.

Yadav, who is on the police's wanted list, has been living in hiding for fear of being arrested. In the same case where Chairman Yadav is absconding, Land Revenue employee Rajkumar Raya and Commission employee Santosh Kumar Yadav have been in the Siraha jail for pre-trial detention since August 10 on the orders of court judge Gopal Prasad Thapa.

Motilal Shrestha of Golbazar Municipality-7 had filed a complaint against them at the District Police Office, Siraha. Shrestha has mentioned in his complaint that they had taken Rs 800,000 from him on Magh 25, 2081, saying that they would prepare a land title deed for one kattha 16 dhur land of plot number 1018 of the former VDC Chandra Ayodhyapur 2.

According to Shrestha, after paying the money, he also received the land title deed in Jestha 2082. However, when he searched the Land Revenue office, no record of the land was found. He then came to know that the land title deed given to him was fake and that he had been cheated.

Based on the complaint filed by Shrestha, the police investigation revealed that they had forged government seals, signatures, and other documents and had forged land revenue receipts and had committed fraud.
The court, citing the victim's claim in the complaint and the evidence attached to the police investigation report, has sent the arrested land revenue employee Ray and the commission employee Yadav to pre-trial detention.

However, their fraud and forgery is not limited to this. It has been revealed that they have illegally collected lakhs of rupees from honest landless squatters in various other places in the district in the name of making land titles.

Nearly two dozen squatter families have been similarly cheated in Ratanpur, Karjanha Municipality-1. It was found that the commission chairman, its employees, land revenue employees and local people's representatives had illegally collected Rs 20,000 per kattha from 22 squatter families here in collusion.

According to locals, a meeting was held in the village in 2079 BS in the presence of commission chairman Ramadhin Yadav, land revenue employee Rajkumar Raya, Karjanha 1 ward chairman Phanindra Pokharel and others. From that meeting, the responsibility of collecting the money was given to local Yadav Prasad Subedi, who was subordinate to ward chairman Pokharel.

Subedi and others have also collected money from locals in cash and through banks. Thus, an amount of around Rs 2.7 million has been collected from 22 families, including Rs 220,000 for 11 katthas from local Bhoj Bahadur Shrestha, Rs 174,000 for 8 katthas and 14 dhurs from Tek Bahadur Shrestha, Rs 160,000 for 8 katthas from Dil Bahadur Thapa, Rs 160,000 for 8 katthas from Archana Bhatta, Rs 70,000 for 3 katthas and 10 dhurs from Pavita Shrestha, and Rs 63,000 for 3 katthas and 3 dhurs from Yagya Bahadur Katuwal.

However, despite paying the money as demanded, the locals have not received the red papers for three years. Despite repeated pleas from the locals to get the red papers or return the money, those involved in the money-raising act, who did not give up, are now returning the money in turn, fearing legal action after the matter became public on social media last week. ‘We were told that the work would be done after we paid the money, we paid the money, the work was being done but it was not, we were upset, instead of returning the money, the people who collected it would go away,’ local Bhoj Bahadur Shrestha told Kantipur, ‘Finally, we warned them that we would go to legal proceedings, and now they are returning the money thinking that they will get caught.’

Subedi, one of the people who collected the money, has also admitted that he collected the money. However, he claims that out of the total amount collected from the village squatters, 700,000 was given to the commission chairman Yadav, 130,000 to the land revenue employee Raya and 100,000 to other middlemen. "I did not take the money and embezzled it, I gave it to Rajkumar Rai 1.3 million, Ramadhin Yadav has taken 7 million from me, other middlemen have also taken it, why should I keep taking names of those who took 100,000/200,000," Subedi told Kantipur, "But, now I have to bear the entire burden, I have already returned 10 million, I will pay everyone ."

Ward Chairman Pokharel claimed that he only facilitated the process. However, the victims say that he was the one who led the collection of the money. When asked if this was an illegal act, he said, "The money is being returned, don't stress it too much ."

It has been found that not only the chairperson of the commission, employees, land revenue employees and people's representatives, but also the district leaders of the country's biggest parties are involved in cheating the squatters in this way. It has been more than two years since Congress Siraha President Ramchandra Yadav illegally took Rs 200,000 from Bhutta Yadav of Musaharniya, Dhangadhimai Municipality-9, on the pretext of preparing a land deed.

A relative had taken Bhutta to President Yadav after he had been searching for years for a land deed of one kattha and 15 dhurs of land in the former VDC Chainpur 5 Kha, where he had built a house and lived for 25 years, but could not find it.

President Yadav and Commission Chairman Yadav initially demanded Rs 60,000, but after bargaining, Bhutta Yadav gave him Rs 200,000 in cash at President Yadav's house in Jeromile in 2080 Asoj. ‘A relative of mine took me to Ramchandra Yadav, Ramchandra told us to go to Siraha saying that the work would be done, so we went, Ramchandra talked to Ramadhin, they reduced it from five or six lakhs to three lakhs after bargaining,’ Bhutta told Kantipur, ‘Finally, after it was settled at two lakhs, I went back to Ramchandra’s house and gave him two lakhs, Ramadhin was also with him.’ According to Bhutta, after receiving the money, they did not promise that the work would be done within 15 days. However, some time after giving the money, a team from the commission went to check the land tenure, but his work has not been done. When Bhutta started asking, he was given a fake red certificate that was not certified by a government official to stop him, saying that the work was in progress.

After learning that he had been cheated, Bhutta, at the age of 67, went to the commission office in Siraha and to Chairman Yadav to demand a refund. However, after he started demanding a refund, they stopped meeting and did not even talk on the phone. Bhutta had called Chairman Yadav some time ago to demand a refund. In a phone conversation obtained by Kantipur, Chairman Yadav hung up the phone by telling Bhutta, "You have not run away, hang up the phone, what are you talking about with me?".

Chairman Yadav has said that he will not comment on the matter. "I will not say anything on this matter, this is a false allegation," he said. Land Commission Chairman Yadav is considered close to Chairman Yadav. He became the chairman of the commission under the Congress quota. Even though attempts were made to get a response on these issues, he did not come in contact.

These are just examples of organized fraud in Siraha by those who have the initiative and responsibility to provide free land certificates to the citizens. Victims of such fraud are found everywhere in the district. However, due to fear, panic and legal ignorance, the victims have not been able to take action. ‘Most of the victims of fraud in the name of land and land titles are in villages in the district. Most of the people who are cheated in this way are ordinary people, but those involved in the fraud are big people,’ says Manoj Kumar Paswan of Siraha, the leader of the movement against meter badges. ‘One is the legal ignorance of the victims, the other reason is fear and panic, due to which they are not in a position to do anything.’